Prairie Gothic (Mad Dog & Englishman Series, 2) - Softcover

Hayes, J M

3.75

81 ratings by Goodreads

9781590583173: Prairie Gothic (Mad Dog & Englishman Series, 2)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590583175 ISBN 13: 9781590583173

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2011

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Benteen County, Kansas, a hellhole in summer under scorching heat and winds, turns even meaner in winter. As a howling blizzard blows down upon Buffalo Springs, the sparsely populated county seat, Sheriff English is presented with a missing doll and a dead baby's switched, but by whom? And why? The elderly coroner disclaims any knowledge, but seems faintly uneasy, especially when the swastika on the tiny corpse is revealed. Meanwhile the sheriff's half-brother, Harvey Edward Maddox, also part Cheyenne and thus known as Mad Dog for his invocation of his Amerind heritage, has picked up a naked dead body from the Sunshine Towers retirement home and is heading towards a treetop burial when diverted by the storm. In a makeshift mound nearby, Mad Dog's pet hybrid-wolf finds a child's skull and evidence of mature bones. Also a fading ID for a living County Supervisor. Can the Hornbaker clan really be as gothic as it seems? And what of the tiny woman in the red shoes back at the Towers who calls herself Dorothy, underlying an odd note of Oz...

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About the Author:

J.M. Hayes was born and raised on the flat earth of central Kansas where Prairie Gothic takes place. He graduated from Wichita State University and did another three years of post graduate work at the University of Arizona. He shares a home in Tucson, AZ with his wife, two computers, four thousand or so books, two German Shepherds, and a Scottish “Terror.”

Review:

""Switched identities, an infant who appears mysteriously, a madwoman locked away from the outside world--these and other gothic elements in Hayes&'s wry, briskly paced second novel (after 2000's Mad Dog and Englishman) would make Mrs. Radcliffe feel right at home. Sheriff English of Buffalo Springs, Kans., shows up at the Sunshine Towers Retirement Home, to try to identify the mother of a tiny corpse that one of the elderly residents has found. The sheriff's part Cheyenne half-brother, Mad Dog, has just liberated the body of Tommie Irons from the Towers and conveyed it for ritual release to the Happy Hunting Grounds, and then a blizzard shuts down the town, except for the Texaco station and the courthouse. Things could not be much worse--but they soon are, as a woman who calls herself Dorothy and wears bright red tennis shoes seems to be leading the sheriff and Mad Dog down the garden path. Juggling the several story lines with aplomb, Hayes shows that even quirky characters can have a sober, thoughtful side when dealing with dilemmas of confidentiality and choice. This macabre, witty look at life and death on the Great Plains should win Hayes new fans.""-Publishers Weekly

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